Intensive Phonics Teacher Training Notes

Agenda

• Day Agenda
  • 9:30am - 10:30am: Welcome & What is Phonics Instruction?
  • 10:30am - 12:30pm: Letter Sounds, Blending & Segmenting, Consonant Blends
  • 12:30pm - 1:30pm: Lunch Break
  • 1:30pm - 4:15pm: Long vowels, Digraphs, trigraphs, Diphthongs, Consonant -le
  • 4:15pm-4:30pm: Q&A Session, Group Photo

What is Phonics?

• Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and their spellings.
• Phonics instructions focus on the teaching of sound-spelling relationships.
• Young readers can come up with an approximate pronunciation of a word and then check it against their oral vocabulary.

Brief History

• United States
  • 1960s: Phonics instruction was advocated.
  • 1970s and 1980s: Whole language was the dominant method.
  • Mid-1800s: Horace Mann's whole-word method was popular.
  • 2000: The National Reading Panel reported that phonics was the best way to teach children to read.
• 1570: John Hart first presented the idea that the relationship between sounds and letters should be the focus of teaching.
• 2011: Phonics was introduced in Malaysia to Year 1 pupils as part of the Standard-based Curriculum for Primary Schools.
• Scotland
  • 2005 study: Children taught using phonics were seven months ahead of their expected reading and spelling ability.
• Before phonics, children learned to read through the ABC method, reciting the letters in each word from a familiar text.

Letter-Sound Knowledge

• Considered "one of the strongest indicators" of future reading success.
• Children who struggle to grasp letter-sound relationships may lag in their literacy development, putting them at risk for future challenges in reading and writing.
  • (McBride-Chang, 1999, p. 304).
  • (Hammill, 2004; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002; Treiman et al., 1998)

Decodability

• Mostly decodable: 37%
• Irregular: 13%
• Fully decodable: 50%

Phonemic Awareness

• Understanding that a word is made up of a series of separate sounds.
• Conscious awareness of the smallest units of sound that make up words.
• Allows one to hear and play with these sounds to understand language better.
• A crucial skill for early reading development.

Phonemic Awareness Activities

• Phoneme Isolation: simplest
• Phoneme Blending
• Phoneme Segmenting
• Phoneme Addition
• Phoneme Deletion
• Phoneme Substitution: most complex

Phonemic Awareness Examples

• Substitution: bat - hat or bat - but
• Deletion: bat → ba or at
• Addition: brat
• Segmenting: /b/ /a/ /t/
• Blending: bat

Letter Sounds: Groups

• Group 1: s, a, t, p, i, n
• Group 2: c, k, e, m, r, d, h
• Group 3: g, o, u, l, f, b
• Group 4: j, w, z, y, v, x

The 44 Sounds of English

• Representation of each sound alongside example words and a memorable phrase.
• S sound:
  • Snake is hissing /s, s, s/
  • /s/ is the sound of S
  • Examples: sun, kiss, race
• A sound:
  • Ants on the apple /a, a, a/
  • /a/ is the sound of A.
  • Examples: ant, apple ,yam
• T sound:
  • Timer is ticking /t, t, t/
  • /t/ is the sound of T.
  • Examples: top, turtle, bat
• P sound:
  • Popcorn are popping /p, p, p/
  • Examples: pen, pig, sheep
• I sound:
  • Itchy, itchy /i, i, i/
  • Examples: ink, igloo, big
• N sound:
  • I have a stuffy nose /n, n, n /
  • Examples: neck, nut, tin
• C sound:
  • Caterpillar laughing /c, c, c /
  • Examples: cat, cub, castle
• K sound:
  • The king kicks a kettle /k , k , k/
  • Examples: kid, kettle, pink
• E sound:
  • Eggs on the elephant /e, e, e/
  • Examples: egg, end, yes
• M sound:
  • Monkeys are munching /m… m… m…/
  • Examples: mop, milk, yum
• R sound:
  • The rat is racing /r, r, r/
  • /r/ is the sound of R.
  • Examples: rat, rose, yum
• D sound:
  • Dogs are dancing / d , d , d /
  • Examples: doll, duck, mud
• H sound:
  • Hippo is huffing / h , h , h /
  • Examples: ham, hut, huff
• F sound:
  • We fan the fire /f, f, f/
  • Examples: fan, puff, phone
• L sound:
  • Licking lollipop /L, L, 1/
  • Examples: lion, leaf, gull
• O sound:
  • An orange octopus /o, o, o/
  • Examples: ox, mop, sock
• B sound:
  • Balls are bouncing /b, b, b/
  • Examples: bus, boy, tub
• G sound:
  • Goats are giggling / g , g , g /
  • Examples: get, guitar, bag
• U sound:
  • Open up the umbrella /u, u, u/
  • Examples: up, under, jump
• J sound:
  • Jiggly fruit jelly /j , j , j /
  • Examples: job, cage, badge
• W sound:
  • Windy weather /w, w, w/
  • Examples: web, wolf, wing
• Z sound:
  • I zip my zipper /z, z, z/
  • Examples: zip, zebra, buzz
• Y sound:
  • Yeti is yawning / y , y , y /
  • Examples: yak, yo-yo, yellow
• V sound:
  • Vroom vroom van /v, v, v/
  • Examples: van, vulture, have
• X sound:
  • The fox is sneezing /ks, ks, ks/
  • Examples: axe, fox, six

Teaching Letter Sounds

1. First Sound (association)
2. Motor movement (manipulatives)
3. Exposure to print (books)
4. Letter-writing practice

Motor Movement (Manipulatives)

• Using items like a letter magnet to help students recognize letters.

Exposure to Print (Storybooks, Ebooks)

• Use alphabet books to read aloud to students.

Letter-Writing Practice

• Learning to trace letters.

Segmenting & Blending

• Essential components of phonics instruction.

Segmenting

• The child first recognizes and says each sound in the word separately.
• For the word cat, the sounds are /k/ /a/ /t/.

Blending

• The child then combines these sounds smoothly to say the whole word.
• /k/…/a/…/t/ becomes cat.

Blending

• Method to help children learn to read by combining different sounds to form words.
• Teaches learners how words are sounded out, helping them decode long and unfamiliar words when reading.

Blending Techniques

1. Successive Blending
2. Final Blending

Successive Blending

• Less taxing on short-term memory and helps students build confidence.
• Students can move on to blending three sounds directly and eventually blend sounds without pausing.

Successive Blending - How it works

• Say (pronounce) the first 2 sounds
• Blend the first two sounds
• Say the last sound
• Blend all three sounds
• Example: m. a. n → man

Final Blending

• Makes blending less overwhelming by focusing on a smaller unit (rime).
• Helps children recognize common rime patterns (e.g., -an, -at, -og).
• Builds confidence as children recognize and decode words faster.

Final Blending - How it works

• Say (pronounce) the rime.
• Blend the rime
• Say the first sound
• Blend all three sounds
• Example: m a . p. → map

Word Families

• Lists of Short Vowel Word Families with examples

Short Vowel A

• -at: cat, bat, mat, hat, sat, rat (The cat sat on the mat.)
• -an: pan, fan, man, can, ran, tan (The man ran with a fan.)
• -ap: cap, map, tap, nap, gap, lap (She has a map and a cap.)
• -am: ham, jam, ram, dam, yam (I like jam on my ham sandwich.)
• -ad: dad, bad, mad, sad, glad (My dad is mad at me.)
• -ag: bag, tag, wag, rag, lag (There is a tag on the bag.)
• -ax: tax, fax, max, wax (Max put wax on the table.)

Short Vowel E

• -ed: bed, red, fed, wed (The red ball is on the bed.)
• -et: pet, net, jet, vet, set (I take my pet to the vet.)
• -en: pen, hen, ten, men, den (The hen is in the pen.)
• -eg: leg, beg, peg, keg (There is a peg on the keg.)
• -ell: bell, sell, tell, well (Please tell me about the bell.)

Short Vowel I

• -it: sit, bit, fit, hit, lit (Can you sit on the chair?)
• -in: pin, fin, tin, win, sin (The fish has a sharp fin.)
• -ig: big, pig, wig, fig (The big pig put on a wig.)
• -ill: bill, hill, fill, will, pill (Will you come up the hill?)
• -ip: dip, lip, tip, zip, sip (I sip the water with my lips.)

Short Vowel O

• -ot: pot, not, hot, lot, rot (The ham is in the hot pot.)
• -op: hop, mop, top, pop (The bunny can hop on the top.)
• -og: dog, log, fog, jog, hog (The dog likes to sleep on the log.)
• -ox: box, fox, ox (The fox is hopping on the box.)
• -ob: cob, rob, sob, job (The robber ran with the cob of corn.)

Short Vowel U

• -ut: cut, nut, hut, gut (I ate a nut inside the hut.)
• -un: sun, fun, run, bun, gun (The sun is bright, and I had fun.)
• -ug: bug, rug, mug, tug, hug (I found a bug under the rug.)
• -um: gum, hum, sum, drum (The drum made a loud hum.)
• -ub: cub, tub, rub, sub (The bear cub is in the tub.)

How to Use This Table: Word Family Practice

• Focus on one word family at a time, such as -at.
• Example: Blend c + at = cat, then switch to h + at = hat.
• Reinforce meaning by using the words in simple, relatable sentences.
• Ask students to come up with additional rhyming words within the family (cat, bat, rat).

How to Teach Blending

1. Slide Method
2. Sound Boxes (Elkonin Boxes)
3. Using Manipulatives

Slide Method

• Draw or imagine a slide.
• Place the sounds at the top (e.g., /c/).

Elkonin Boxes

• Slowly move your finger across the boxes to blend the sounds together.

Using Manipulatives

• Use letter tiles, magnetic letters, or blocks to represent sounds.
• Physically push the letters together as you blend them.

Segmenting (Spelling)

• Breaking a word into its individual sounds (phonemes).
• Children segment the word they hear (phoneme) and spell each sound with a corresponding letter/ group of letters (grapheme).

How does segmenting help with spelling

• I hear 3 sounds
  • /d/ is spelled with d
  • /o/ is spelled with o
  • /g/ is spelled with g
• “DOG” , I can spell it!

Segmenting - How it works

• Say the word
• Stretch the word
• Count the sounds
• Represent each sound with a letter
• Check the spelling
• Example: s…u…n → sun

Before teaching segmenting, do this…

1. Start with beginning sound identification.
2. Move on to last sound identification
3. Finally, middle sound.
4. To prompt, emphasize the sound when you say it or provide options.

• What is the first/beginning sound of Cat? /k/ or /p/?

How to Teach Segmenting?

1. Elkonin Boxes
2. Tapping It Out
3. Stretchy Words

Elkonin Boxes

• Use boxes to represent each sound in a word.
• Children write one letter or sound in each box.

Tapping It Out

• Have children tap their fingers or clap as they say each sound before writing it.
• Ask your child, “how many different sounds do you hear in the word __?”

Stretchy Words

• Say words slowly and stretch out the sounds to emphasize segmentation.

Spelling Progress

1. Unscrambling Letters Without Distractors
2. Unscrambling Letters With Distractors
3. Counting Sounds & Determining Spelling
4. Writing Words Independently
5. Gradually Increasing Word Difficulty
6. Introducing Spelling Rules Gradually

Spelling Progress - Unscrambling Letters Without Distractors

• Provide the letters of a simple word (e.g., "cat") in jumbled order (e.g., "tac").
• Focus: Simple CVC words with short vowels.

Spelling Progress - Unscrambling Letters With Distractors

• Start with one distractor.
• Gradually increase distractors.
• or Fill in the Missing Sounds: Provide visual and task the child to listen and complete the word.

Spelling Progress - Map the word and spell each sound

• Say a word aloud (e.g., "dog") and ask the child to:
  • Count the sounds (e.g., /d/ - /o/ - /g/ = 3 sounds).
  • Identify the corresponding letters to spell the word.

Spelling Progress - Writing Words Independently

• Move from guided to independent spelling.
• Activity: Provide verbal prompts or pictures and ask the child to spell the word without help/options.
• Support: Use phonics charts or sound walls for reference.

Spelling Progress - Gradually Increasing Word Difficulty

• Begin with CVC words (e.g., "cat," "bat").
• Introduce consonant blends (e.g., "stop," "flag").
• Add long vowel patterns (e.g., "cake," "meet").
• Incorporate digraphs (e.g., "ship," "chair").
• Progress to diphthongs (e.g., "coin," "house").
• Include multi-syllabic words and words with silent letters (e.g., "table," "knight").

Tips for Effective Implementation

• Use Visuals: Incorporate pictures to support word recognition and memory.
• Scaffold: Offer prompts to correct errors instead of giving answers directly.
• Games: Word searches, spelling bees, or matching games
• Move slowly: Ensure mastery before moving to more difficult words.
• Increase challenges gradually

Lesson Activities & Games

• Examples of low-prep and physical activities.

Low-Prep Activities

1. Roll and Read
2. Four in a Row
3. Secret Code
4. Ice Cream Tower
5. Messy Room Tic-Tac-Toe
6. Picture Search
7. Sound Switcheroo

Physical Activities

1. Flashcard Jumping
2. Hoops Fishing Game
3. Whack-a-Mole
4. Sock Ball
5. Fly Swatting Game
6. Write the Room
7. Spin the Wheel

Phonics Progress

• Letter Sound
• Short Vowel - CVC
• Consonant Blend, Digraph
• Long Vowel, CVCe
• Digraph, Bossy R, Diphthong, Trigraph…

Consonant Blends

• Understanding and teaching consonant blends.

Vowel / Consonant

• Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
• y can sometimes also be a vowel (baby, shy)

What is Consonant Blend?

• A group of two or three consonants in a word where each consonant retains its own sound when pronounced.
• The sounds are blended together smoothly but are still distinct.

Initial Blends (at the beginning of words)

• 2-Letter Blends: L-Blends, R-Blends, S-Blends
  • L-Blends: bl (blue), cl (clap), fl (flag), gl (glad), pl (play), sl (slide)
  • R-Blends: br (brown), cr (crow), dr (drop), fr (frog), gr (green), pr (pray), tr (tree)
  • S-Blends: sc (scan), sk (skip), sl (slip), sm (smile), sn (snow), sp (spot), st (stop), sw (swing)

Final Blends (at the end of words)

• ld (cold), lt (salt), mp (lamp), nd (hand), nt (tent), nk (pink), sk (task), sp (wasp), st (best)
• 3-Letter Blends: scr (scrap), spl (splash), spr (spring), str (street), thr (three)

Steps to Introduce Consonant Blends

1. Teach Vowels and Consonants
2. Introduce Consonant Blends
3. Practice Successive Blending with Blends
4. Reinforce with Word Lists (CCVC Words)
5. Introduce CCVCC Words Using Successive Blending

Introduce Consonant Blends

• Explain that a consonant blend is when two consonants are put together, and we hear both sounds blended smoothly.
• Show bl and say: “/b/ + /l/ makes bl. ”
• Give example words: blue, blind, block, etc

Practice Successive Blending with Blends

• Write or display a word like blip:
• Start with the blend: bl. Say, “Let’ s blend bl first. ” (Slide the sounds together: /b/ → /l/ = bl).
• Add the vowel: “Now add i: bli. ”
• Finally, blend the full word: “Now let’ s add p: blip. ”

Reinforce with Word Lists (CCVC Words)

• Use simple CCVC words (e.g., flag, trap, clip):
• Start by blending the initial consonants first.
• Progressively add the remaining sounds to complete the word.

Introduce CCVCC Words Using Successive Blending

• Use words like plant or crisp:
• Start with the initial blend: “Blend pl → /pl/. ”
• Add the vowel: “Now add a: pla. ”
• Blend the ending consonants: “Now add nt: plant.

How to Blend Words with a Consonant Blend?

• Spot the consonant blend
• Read the consonant blend
• Say the vowel and last sound
• Blend all sounds
• Example:
  • p. l. a n → plan
  • b. l. o ck → block
  • s. n. ai l → snail

Ending Blend Method

• Say the vowel and ending blend
• Read the rime
• Say the beginning blend
• Blend all sounds
• Example: p r a. n. k. → prank

Long Vowels

• Understanding long vowels and their characteristics.

Vowels

• Short: Produce a quick, concise sound.
  • Example: cat (short a), bed (short e), sit (short i), top (short o), cup (short u)
• Long: Produce a stretched sound and match the name of the vowel.
  • Example: cake (long a), tree (long e), bike (long i), rope (long o), cube (long u).
  • The sound is not the same as the name of the vowel.
  • Often represented by vowel patterns like magic-E (e.g., cake) or vowel pairs (e.g., rain).

Long A

• Spelling patterns:
  • a_e: cake
  • ai: rain
  • ay: play
  • ea: steak

Long E

• Spelling patterns:
  • ee: tree
  • ea: meat
  • e_e: evening
  • y: happy

Long I

• Spelling patterns:
  • ie: pie
  • i_e: knife
  • igh: knight
  • y: cry

Long O

• Spelling patterns:
  • oe: toe
  • o_e: rose
  • oa: boat
  • ow: snow

Long U

• Spelling patterns:
  • u: unicorn
  • ue: cue
  • u_e: puke
  • ew: few

How to Blend Words with a Long Vowel?

• Say (pronounce) the first 2 sounds
• Blend the first two sounds
• Say the last sound
• Blend all three sounds
• Examples:
  • p. a. i n → pain
  • s. e.e d → seed
  • f. ig.h t → fight
  • b. o.a t → boat
  • c. u. te → cute

Steps to Introduce Long Vowels

1. Review Short Vowels
2. Explain the Concept of Long Vowels
3. Teach Common Long Vowel Patterns
4. Reinforce with Games and Activities
5. Gradually Increase Difficulty

Review Short Vowels

• Start by ensuring the child can identify and pronounce short vowels correctly.
• Activity: Use CVC words (cat, bed, sit, hop, cup) to reinforce short vowel sounds.

Explain the Concept of Long Vowels

• Teach that long vowels "say their name" (e.g., the letter a in cake sounds like "ay").
• Compare with short vowels to highlight the difference.
• Example: Say cat (short a) and cake (long a) to demonstrate.

Teach Common Long Vowel Patterns

• Introduce long vowel patterns one at a time.
  • Vowel Digraphs (Two Vowels Together)

Reinforce with Games and Activities

• Word Hunt: Look for long vowel words in a storybook.
• Bingo: Create a bingo game with long vowel words.
• Interactive Apps: Use phonics apps that focus on long vowels.

Gradually Increase Difficulty

• Start with simple words (cake, boat) and progress to multisyllabic words (table, pilot).
• Mix different long vowel patterns in practice sessions to build confidence.

Blending with Long Vowels How-to

• Say the first two sounds
• Blend the first two sounds
• Say the last sound
• Blend all sounds
• Examples:
  • r. a. i n → rain
  • b. o.a t → boat
  • ch. ew. → chew

Magic E (Silent E)

• Explains the concept of magic E and its effect on vowel sounds.

Magic E

• Long Vowel with Magic E
  • Magic E, Magic E
  • The end of the words is where you find me
  • I don’t say /e/, I don’t say /ee/
  • The vowel will say its name when it sees me
  • Examples: tape, ice, rope, cube

Role of Magic E

1. Makes the Vowel Long
2. Prevents Words from Ending in certain letters
3. Softens C and G Sounds

Makes the Vowel Long

• Silent E makes the vowel say its name.
  • Example: cap → cape, kit → kite.

Prevent Words from Ending in V, I, U, and Z

• English words don’t typically end with "V, I, U and Z", so Silent E is added.
• Example: have, tie, cue, freeze
• The letter V might tip over! The silent E helps it stand still!

Softens C and G

• Silent E can make "c" and "g" sound soft (like /s/ or /j/).
• Example: dance, large.

Sounds of C and G

• Soft C: When c is in front of an i, y, or e, it is soft and says /s/. For example: city, cycle, and cent.
• Hard C: When c is in front of any other letter, it is hard and says /k/. For example: camera, car, and cone.
• Soft G: When g is in front of an i, y, or e, it is soft and says /j/. For example: giant, gym, and gem.
• Hard G: When g is in front of any other letter, it says /g/. For example: golf, game, and grape.

How to teach magic E?

1. Introduce magic E like a magician.
2. Explain its roles.
3. Give them a list of CVC words. Blend.
4. Add magic E at the end, then prompt them to blend long vowel sound.

• Remind them that magic E is silent.

Digraphs Vowel Teams, & R-Controlled Vowels

• Explanation and examples of digraphs, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowels.

Digraphs

• ng sound:
  • long, hang, swing
  • I am the strongest /ng, ng, ng/
• ch sound:
  • chop, chill, catch
  • Choo, choo train let’s go /ch, ch, ch/
• sh sound:
  • shop, shell, fresh
  • Hush, hush / sh , sh , sh /
• th (voiced) sound:
  • this, that, though
  • Sticking my tongue out /th! th! th!/
• th (unvoiced) sound:
  • thin, throat, thunder
  • Oh, I hurt my tongue /th/… /th/… /th/…

Th Sounds

• Unvoiced: thin, three, thumb, teeth, bath, path
  • Air flows freely without vocal cord vibration.
  • Found in most nouns and adjectives.
• Voiced: this, that, they, mother, brother, feather
  • Vocal cords vibrate when pronounced.
  • Found in function words (the, this, those) and some nouns.

R-Controlled Vowels

• ar sound:
  • shark, march, junk
  • ar…ar…
• or sound:
  • corn, awful, August
  • or…
  • or…
  • or…
• ur sound:
  • turtle, fern, bird
  • ur…
  • ur…

Diphthongs

• oy sound:

  • boy, oil, noise
  • oy! oy! ahoy!

• ou sound:

  • ouch, house, crown

• oo sound

  • woof, good, stood

• oo sound

  • hoot, moon, igloo

• air sound:

  • hair, bear, square

Schwa Sound Examples:

• a: alarm, banana

Schwa Sound Details:

• a - about, around, asleep, balloon, alive, banana
• e - elephant, medicine, moment, problem, chicken
• i - family, pencil, president
• o - lemon, melon, doctor, original, oven
• u - supply, support, upon, carrot, second, until, circus, busy

Consonant Digraphs

• qu sound:
  • queen, quill, quest
  • The ducks are quacking /qu, qu, qu/
• wh sound:
  • In most varieties of modern English, "wh" is pronounced as /w/
  • Words like when, where, why, and what are typically pronounced with a /w/ sound.

Open & Close Syllables

• Explains open and closed syllables with examples.

What are Syllables?

• Syllables are small groups of sounds that you hear in each word.
• Each syllable must have a vowel sound.
• Sometimes syllables are called beats in the word.
• Examples: cat, rab-bit, but-ter-fly

Open Syllable

• An open syllable is a syllable that ends in a vowel.
• When a syllable ends in a vowel, that vowel says its name.
• Examples: me, he, we
• The door is opened and the vowel can shout its name!

Closed Syllable

• A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in a consonant.
• When a syllable ends in a consonant, the vowel before it says its short sound.
• Examples: met, web, hen
• The consonant closes the door so the vowel has to say its short sound.

Consonant + -le

• Final syllable with a consonant and -le.
• A consonant + le in the final syllable has the schwa sound and sounds like /ul/.
• Examples: cable, table, eagle
• If the first syllable has a short vowel sound you will have 2 consonants.
• Examples: bubble, bottle, candle

Common Consonant + le Endings:

• ble, tle, gle, ple, cle, fle, sle

ble syllable ending words

• bible, noble, table, bobble, hobble, wobble, nibble, bubble, scribble, gamble, scramble, grumble

dle syllable ending words

• cradle, ladle, doodle, noodle, poodle, needle, paddle, fiddle, middle, cuddle, puddle, candle

gle syllable ending words

• eagle, bugle, angle, jungle, giggle, wiggle, tingle, jiggle, snuggle, struggle, juggle, gurgle

ple syllable ending words

• maple, staple, cripple, ripple, ample, sample, example, temple, dimple, simple, crumple, purple

tle syllable ending words

• little, beetle, battle, cattle, kettle, brittle, skittle, gentle, startle, hurtle, turtle, rattle

stle syllable ending words

• castle, bristle, wrestle